Raymond Carlson — Recipe Reconstruction: Power Point — September 8, 2014
Raymond Carlson — Recipe Reconstruction: Modern Instructions — September 8, 2014



Citron:

Our recipe called for candied citron, and citron is not the same as a lemon. Probably what was used in the recipe was an "etrog," which actually plays a part in a Jewish holiday next month! Otherwise, though, they are expensive and rare, and not available to purchase. Instead, we used lemons and candied them according to this recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/346961/candied-lemon-slices

Rosewater
While we had a good, historic source that described the distillation of rosewater, from the link below, we lacked the appropriate glass apparatuses needed to distill something properly. Following this 17th-century recipe loosely, we decided to find a rose, remove the petals, crush them to expel juices, and boil them in a pot. We then conserved the water that condensed under the lid of the pot and saved it as rosewater. This yielded only a small quantity of rosewater (a teaspoon at best), and we are not certain what impact it had on the recipe as a whole.

http://eebo.chadwyck.com/search/full_rec?EeboId=22095229&ACTION=ByID&SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ID=22095229&FILE=..%2Fsession%2F1409928213_17196&SEARCHSCREEN=param%28SEARCHSCREEN%29&VID=25027&PAGENO=57&ZOOM=150&VIEWPORT=&CENTREPOS=&RESULTCLICK=&GOTOPAGENO=&ZOOMLIST=150&ZOOMTEXTBOX=&SEARCHCONFIG=var_spell.cfg&DISPLAY=param%28DISPLAY%29

Almonds
The manuscript advised that once we had acquired the pound of almonds, we should "beat them well." We used blanched almonds, as a similar recipe from Colonial Williamsburg (see below) called for blanched almonds, and it seemed logical that this cake would have intended the same thing. We were unsure to what level of fineness the almonds should be beaten, as well as how this should be done. We thought that maybe they should be a paste, but it was hard to know.

The process we used was to put the almonds in a Ziploc bag and crush them with a heavy jar until they the largest pieces were less than 1cm in width. The Ziploc bag was an unfortunate anachronism, but it allowed us to efficiently "beat" the almonds while ensuring that we did not lose any of the exact 1/2 pound quantity we hoped to retain.

Almonds and Rosewater
The manuscript also advised that, "to keep them [the almonds] from oyling you must put some sack and rosewater." From looking through other online sources we could not determine what sack was. We did not notice any buildup of oil in the Ziploc, which we would have expected from the warning of "oyling" in the manuscript. We added the small quantity of rosewater, and we were surprised that its use was meant to specifically counteract this property of the almonds.

Yeast
Using yeast as a substitute for barm was unfortunate but necessary given the availability of ingredients. To activate the yeast, we needed to add 1/4 cup of water. The recipe did not call for any water, and while we were hesitant to change the chemistry of the recipe, we could not add inactive yeast. The yeast expanded immensely. We also didn’t know how much barm “a wine quarte of good barme” would be, so we resorted to a modern-day measurement of yeast.

Mixing & Rising
The recipe called for us to mix our wet ingredients with the almonds, "and put [them] in one side of the flower, and so make it up and let it lye to rise halfe an hour." We struggled to understand what was meant by "put in one side of the flower," especially because the flower had already been mixed together with the other dry ingredients. We very slowly poured the wet mixture at the very edge of the bowl containing the dry ingredients. We worked together with one of us pouring the wet ingredients while the other stirred the mixture, assuming that "put in one side of the flower" meant to incorporate the two together as dough. The dough remained so dry and dense that we had to knead it by hand, which was not explicitly called for in the recipe. The dense dough did not rise during the 30 minutes we set it aside, as called for in the recipe. We would speculate that there may have been some problem with the yeast, which may not act identically to barm or may have not been activated properly.

Measurements and Weights:

Based on the following website, we assumed that 1 pound = 16 oz

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/weightsandmeasures/weights.aspx

1 pound sugar è 453 gram sugar è about 2 cups of sugar, which we halved

(for conversion from grams to cups, see: http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/sugar_amounts.html )

5 pounds flour – bag halved, and measured by comparing 2 bowls because we did not have a scale

Quart: The Encyclopedia Britannica says that a medieval/early modern quart was relatively close to its modern equivalents, so we used one quart of cream, halved

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/486368/quart

Spices:
We grated our own nutmeg and used 3 nutmegs; we tried to grate cinnamon from a stick, but this proved harder than nutmeg because it flaked off. Eventually, we resorted to pre-ground cinnamon. Since the recipe called for “a little salt & nuttmage mace and cinnamon with some caraway seeds,” we had to guess and eyeball these amounts. We interpreted “a little” as “just a dash” in proportion to the entire recipe, but this amount was not measured precisely.